Health officials say that cases of leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, are surging in Central Florida.
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Wonder how many touched / handled armadillos recently? It’s my understanding that they and humans are the only two mammals known to carry and transmit leprosy . .
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Gotta be human vectors....
Not always, though . . . do you recall a TV series called Monsters Inside Me? Each week featured vignettes about things like parasites, spider bites, scorpion stings, etc. One segment told of two teenage boys walking the woods found a dead armadillo. One boy nudged the body with his foot, and some of the animal's blood got on the canvas of his shoe. Very soon afterward, he developed leprosy. The program showed some pretty graphic photos of blue scars from the doctors cutting off the infected flesh.
That program was the first time I'd ever heard of armadillos being connected with leprosy. Did more research, which confirmed what the Monsters Inside Me segment had said.
Armadillos are very cool-looking, but I'm going to admire them only from a distance. Of course not all are carriers, but they're one of the two that are known.